Boss hails Chelsea fans after ‘amazing’ show of support

“This is my moment”. I knew the risks but in the first half we were very good and we deserved a different result.

“Today they tried to say: ‘We want you here.’ And, probably, they want to say: ‘All of you, let him work”.

Mourinho thanked the fans for their vocal support, as he should, but he owes a lot to Willian as the failure to win on Wednesday could have cost both club and manager dearly.

As often is the case with Chelsea and Mourinho, it was not straightforward and there was a moment of controversy when Diego Costa was denied a penalty. It was fantastic. The club should be proud of their fans.

Asked whether the battle for a spot with the Spaniard was getting the best out of him, he responded: “No, I always try to give the maximum, with or without Pedro”.

The Portuguese has continually courted controversy amid Chelsea’s poor runand was handed a one-match stadium ban alongside a £40,000 fine for his behaviour in last month’s 2-1 defeat at West Ham, a game in which he was sent to the stands.

Kiev did well to hold on to a draw but a sublime free kick by Willian in the 83rd minute gave the Blues a much anticipated win.

He explained that the Chelsea team now look panicked when they go a goal down because their confidence is low and it will only come back once they put together a run of positive results on the bounce. “When the negative moment comes, the team shake a little bit, but today we were prepared for the negative moment because they are coming every match. As you can see on the pitch when a goal is scored we are together”. We have an important game on Saturday, away at Stoke, but we have the chance to win the match and that’s our target right now. It’s something I spoke about with the players. “Today they did it”, he said.

But a delightful Willian free-kick settled the contest in Chelsea’s favour, giving the Blues a second win in six games and boosted their Champions League hopes ahead of ties with Maccabi Tel-Aviv and Porto, Mourinho’s former club.

Arjen Robben’s first-time finish and a Muller breakaway strike came either side of Olivier Giroud’s volley. I already told Rebrov and Sheva because they were here together.